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The first US Navy’s jet aircraft to be operated from the aircraft carriers and the first jet of the US Marines ever, such could be the description of the airframe produced by McDonnell under designation the FH-1 and which was commonly known as the Phantom, although the same name, just with a number II added, would be later given to another and much more popular jet to seemingly eclipse the historic significance of the original Phantom.
McDonnell company was established in 1939, and in 1940 it received its first contract for a production of subassemblies for other producers. In January 1943, McDonnell’s design team was assigned a new job though. The US Navy commissioned a jet fighter aircraft to be built which was to be known as the FD-1, later to be renamed to the FH-1 in 1947 (in US Navy system, the letter D denoted the Douglas company)
The team, led by K.Perkins, put forward a concept of a straight wing monoplane of all-metal construction. The power plants were supplied by Westinghouse. Originally, before the whole concept of the aircraft became clear enough, as many as eight engines were considered per each machine. Eventualy, a more conventional design with two powerplants on either side of the fuselage was accepted. The machine was fitted with six machine guns in the nose section and the Phantom military nickname was chosen. The type’s Model 19 powerplants proved to lack the necessary performance and were quite unreliable, too. However, the prototype XFD-1 machine begun its taxiing tests fitted with this type of powerplants, to be more precise it was fitteed with just one engine. On 26 January 1945, an accidental hop occured during taxiing which was considered the type’s very first take off. The flight tests went on until 1 November 1945 when the plane crashed, killing its pilot, W.Burke. It was hard times for the company, indeed. The original order calling for 100 examples of the aircraft was cut down to just 30 airframes by the end of the war, however, eventually, as many as 60 airframes were requested. The flight tests went on with the second prototype, during these tests the very first landing and consequent take off from an aircraft carrier occured, making the Phantom the very first naval jet aircraft to achieve this milestone.
The production machines differed from the prototypes by having their tail fins squared off, the wind shield was simplified, fuel tanks enlarged and a provision for another tank carried under the belly was also made. The very first production airframes, the FH-1, went to VF-17 unit, making it the first jet aircraft unit of the US Navy. The unit was later re-equipped with the more modern Banshee type and renamed to VF-171. The second Navy unit to operate the Phantom was VF-172, while the first Marines unit to do so was VFM-122, which, led by ace pilot Marion E. Carl received their FH-1s during the Autumn of 1947. It was also this unit where the first FH-1 display, or aerobatics group was formed, named the Marine Phantoms. Another one was established at the Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River, named the Gray Angels, but was also unofficially known as the Admirals‘ Group as its members were Rear Admirals D.Galler, E.A. Cruise and A.Soucek.
The FH-1 Phantom did not see very long first line service, it was transferred to Naval Air Reserve units at various Naval Air Stations throughout the whole US rather soon and by 1955, the Phantom had retired from active service. In 1964, two airframes and another one to supply spare parts were used to civil jet pilot training by Progressive Aero Inc. company.
The 1/72 Phantom jet was already in our production range back in the 1990s in the form of a short-run type model kit. Now, we have prepared for you a completely new, 3D-designed, cutting-edge model which, apart from the name Phantom, has absolutely nothing common with the previous one. There are three sprues of grey injected moulded styrene, one clear sprue and on top of it also a fret of etched details. The decal sheet was expertly printed by Italian Cartograf and caters for four machines, three of which are in the military standard of dark blue while the fourth option portrays a civilian machine in white overall with red trim. Make your choice from the following options:
no. 750 operated by the NATC and flown by Rear Admiral Apollo Soucek, member of the Gray Angels aerobatics and display team.
no. 108 assigned to Naval Air Station Grosse Ile, 1951, with the fuselage band in Orange. On the occasion of a public show, this airframe was carried an enlistment poster underneath its canopy, the poster is also in the decal sheet.
A-FH-1 of the Marine Phantoms display team of VMF-2, with yellow trim.
FH-1 Phantom, N2482A, as used for the pilot training in Teterboro School of Aviation.
| | | IAR-81 BoPi "Dive Bomber" 1/32 | | Art.no. | Scale | Barcode | | 100-SH32073 | 1/32 | 8594071086312 |
| | In the late 1930s, the Polish PZL P.11 and P.24 all-metal, high wing fighter planes were produced under licence by I.A.R., Industria Aeronautica Romana. As it was quite clear that such type of design was nearing obsolescence and the future belonged to low wing fighters with retractable undercarriage and enclosed canopy, a design team led by Ion Grosu was formed with the aim to project a modern warplane of such sort. Using the P.24´s fuselage structure, a new fighter plane was created and named the I.A.R.80. The first prototype airframe was fitted with the I.A.R. 14K-IIc32 fourteencylinder, double-row radial, delivering 870 hp and was taken aloft for the first time on April 4, 1939. The new fighter had performance approaching that of contemporary foreign designs like the Hurricane, P-36, MS 406 and Bf 109D. Various changes to the plane’s armament led to the I.A.R.80 A, B and C sub-versions being created, and also the I.A.R.81 C which was designed for the fighter-bomber role in the spring of 1941. A specialised dive bomber version, the I.A.R.81 BoPi was also built, fitted with a hinged underbelly bomb rack of design similar to that of the Stuka. When the bomb was released during the dive, the rack swung it outside the propeller arc. Two batches of the BoPi version were built, machines c/n 91-105 and c/n 151-175
The Romania Air Force´s fighter and ground attack units were equipped with the I.A.R.80/81 type right from the beginning of the country´s involvement in the Second World War and until the end of hostilities. Fifty I.A.R.80s were in service during the attack against the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. The 6th Group (61st and 62nd squadrons) and the 8th Group (41st and 60th Squadrons) were engaged at Stalingrad front during the autumn of 1942. 1 August 1943 saw I.A.R.80 & 81s defending the Ploiesti oil plants from attack by USAAF B-24 Liberators, during ‘Operation Tidal Wave’, when the Rumanian fighters downed some of the heavy bombers. On 10 June 1944, I.A.R.81Cs from 6th Fighter Group confronted P-38 Lightnings belonging to the USAAF 82nd and 1st FG (American pilots mistakenly reported having fought Fw 190As).
Romania joined the Allies on 24 August 1944, and changed back the national insignia worn by its aircraft from crosses to traditional blue, yellow and red roundels. Being under Soviet command, the I.A.R.80/81 units saw combat over Hungary and later also during the liberation of Czechoslovakia over the areas of Moravia and Slovakia, where they enjoyed and suffered their final victories and losses. Remaining airframes of the 80/81 type kept on serving in Romania until the 1950s, some of them also being rebuilt in 1950 to advanced trainer version known as the I.A.R.81DC.
In the box adorned with a bomb-laden I.A.R.81 BoPi airplane, the modeller will find in total seven injection moulded sprues made using steel tools, one clear styrene sprue with canopy parts and other smaller clear items, nicely detailed set of resin parts and a fret of photo etches. The model comes complete with the centre-line rack bomb and underwing bombs and their racks. The decals offer four Romanian options, two of them in a three-tone scheme, the other two in two-tone camouflage.
| | | RESIN ACCESSORIES FOR PLASTIC KITS | | 1/32 P-51D Mustang Main Undercarriage Strengthened legs, for Revell kit | | Art.no. | Scale | Barcode | | 129-5123 | 1/32 | 8595593125930 |
| | | This set consists of new main undercarriage legs made of specially hardened resin material. The cast parts are heat treated in an oven which gives them a high degree of hardiness. What is more, the master pattern was created using 3D technology making the resin cast legs substantially more detailed. | | | 1/32 P-51D Mustang Metal Drop Tank w/ jutting filler neck (2 pcs), for Revell kit | | Art.no. | Scale | Barcode | | 129-5128 | 1/32 | 8595593125947 |
| | | Two metal-type drop tanks with jutting filler neck as seen fitted to the P-51D. The tank is a solid resin cast and the neck comes as separate part. You will not find this type of tank in the 1/32 Revell kit. Master pattern created using 3D. | | | 1/72 P-40N Engine Set, for Special Hobby kit | | Art.no. | Scale | Barcode | | 129-7390 | 1/72 | 8595593125954 |
| | This detailed open engine compartment set has been designed to fit the new 1/72 Special Hobby P-40N kit. The set contains also the cowling panels. | | | 1/35 German WWI Minenwerfer Crewmember Loading Shell | | Art.no. | Scale | Barcode | | 129-F35342 | 1/35 | 8595593125961 |
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